Celene Meraz-Benavente has just graduated as a physiotherapist from Federation University in Victoria but she’s already flying high. 

In October, Celene travelled to Canada to conduct research on balance and coordination in microgravity conditions and she plans to return. 

October’s flight differed from the first parabolic training flights she took in 2024. 

Parabolic flights—where the aircraft climbs steeply, increasing the gravity experienced by the passengers to about two times gravity or two g, and then goes into freefall so that passengers experience zero gravity for about 30 seconds, before pulling out or recovering—are used to achieve microgravity conditions. 

While the training flights spaced out the parabolas, the research flight completed 12 back-to-back parabolas with no rest time in between. 

Celene says the experience was amazing. 

‘You could definitely feel it in the body. 

‘It was quite intense. 

‘Your body goes from two g to zero g to two g to zero g without stopping. 

‘I think it gave us a very good platform to assess balance and coordination. 

‘One of the things we all noticed as flyers was that when you finish the flight and get out of the plane, especially when you close your eyes, you feel like you’re still floating. 

‘Your brain thinks that you’re still in that environment. 

‘It’s like when you get off a boat and still feel the motion of the sea. 

‘It’s a very odd sensation. 

‘When I was doing the balance testing and I had to close my eyes, that’s when I really felt it.’ 

To understand the effects of microgravity on balance and coordination, Celene did balance testing pre- and post-flight and also looked at lower and upper limb coordination with herself and one other as participants. 

The data collection went very well, she says, and because the project has been so successful, they plan to recruit more participants to do a second round of flights in early 2026 to strengthen the data before publishing it. 

‘Our goal is to find out whether exposure to microgravity—even short periods of exposure, less than 30 seconds—affects our balance systems. 

‘If we can answer that with confidence, then we can start to look at solutions.’ 

Celene Meraz Benevente is a physiotherapist training to do research in microgravity environments.

Ultimately, Celene hopes to take part in a suborbital mission to do more experiments on balance and coordination. 

Suborbital flights climb steeply to reach a point outside the Earth’s atmosphere before freefalling for several minutes of microgravity. 

‘We need to prepare ourselves as best we can and to use these parabolic flights to do experiments to help understand this environment because it’s very different from doing land-based experiments. 

‘The set-up, the logistics—there are a lot of things at the back end that you wouldn’t think about unless you’re there and a lot of logistical aspects that you need to be aware of. 

‘Fingers crossed that in the future I’m able to get an opportunity on a suborbital flight to continue the testing we’re doing.’ 

With the support of Federation University, Celene has juggled her physiotherapy studies—including placements—with the aeronautical studies she has been doing through the Scientist-Astronaut Qualification Program at the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences, based at Florida Institute of Technology in the United States. 

‘It has required a lot of planning, being strict with my timetable and always thinking ahead to what needs to happen. 

‘You can’t do this alone—you need the university’s support and I can definitely say that Professor Duncan Bentley and the team at Federation have been very much behind me. 

‘I mention him because he’s been quite involved; he’s been a great supporter since I started these pursuits. 

‘No success can happen alone and having that support gave me the confidence that I’m going in the right direction—that what I’m doing is meaningful and is making a difference—and that is something I’m very grateful for. 

‘I would also like to thank the APA for its support, especially CEO Rob LoPresti, who has been consistently supportive of this work.’ 

In addition to continuing her research, Celene is looking for clinical opportunities to work as a physiotherapist. 

She’s also looking at opportunities to do a PhD to further her research on balance and coordination in microgravity environments. 

‘I want to learn how we can adapt to these new environments and how physios can contribute to this new space era as we pursue new lunar missions with the Artemis program. 

‘It’s the right time to be involved.’ 

>>The APA is proud to support Celene Meraz-Benavente as a research partner as she completes her research program.